ABOUT

JOE STILLER

JOE STILLER (BarYak founder and owner)

I am an Adventure Bike Racer from Sioux Falls, SD. My wife Tina and I also give clinics and direct bike packing tours in the Midwest. When competing in adventure bike races, whether it be summer, or my favorite winter Fatbike racing I find myself concentrating more on the gear and less on the race. Maybe this distraction is a blessing to get through the ugly moments we all experience in a century or a multiday event. Most of the products that we have designed and currently are bringing to market have been inspired be events like *Trans Iowa 350 mile gravel race across Iowa. – One finger cue card holder with a light bracket for a Princeton Tec Extreme light system.*Dirty Kanza a 200 mile gravel race over the challenging Flint Hills of Kansas. Multiday events like * Trans South Dakota 700 mile across the mountainous and open prairies of beautiful South Dakota and the addition of a 4 ½ mile packraft river crossing on the Missouri River make this a truly unique event – partnering with www.KokopelliPackraft.com. The *Tuscobia 150 mile Winter Ultra was the inspiration for the BarYak. This race is an out and back course shared with runners, which creates an all new challenge of tough snow conditions, which leads to gear coming loose and dropping on your front wheel. Another problem with current bar mounting systems is gear mounted directly to your handlebars crushes your shift and brake cables which will lead to sluggish shifting, poor responding brakes and premature wearing of your brake, shifting cables and housing. That’s where the BarYak came in. It outboard mounts your bar roll which gives you plenty of clearance for brake and shifter cables, also giving you a much more secure mount for your harness, nothing is attached to your head tube. During Arrowhead 135 of 2014 Rookie year, the race started with 147 racers with a temp. of -27f and by the 1st checkpoint at mile 37, 92 racers were out, due to frostbite and gear failure. It was at that point my Red front and rear lights had failed due to wrong battery choice for those temps. If it wasn’t for Todd Mc Fadden from Duluth, MN the race would have been over for me, due to his frost bite he loaned me his front and rear flashing lights which allowed me to continue in the race. At the beginning of Day 2, leaving MelGeorge check point #2 at 1:00 AM. I noticed with my headlamp I had 6 wolves keeping pace with me. I’ve never experienced being tracked before by a wild animal ( very uncomfortable ). Somewhere around 4 AM. I saw the temp. dip down to -35f and it was at that moment my headlamp and the light on my bike failed at the exact same time. It was a very sobering moment for me, 6 wolves following me, all alone, 4 AM. and the only light I had was the occasional flash from my front and rear red lights. At that point I got off my bike, not being able to see and started walking, an hour later cresting a hill I noticed red flashing lights just off the trail, I was so relieved as I approached I heard creaking in the snow, it was Mark Seaburg and Greg Ames, Mark had been bivied down there since 9PM. and Gregs lights also failed. As the sky turned from black to grey the temp. dipped to -40f as Greg and I tried stuffing our over sized 40 below sleeping bags into a standard bar roll. We almost lost our fingers that morning, nothing is safe at -40f and you don’t sleep, just survive. It was this race that formed a partnership with: Kedan N Kath Griffin of Bike Bag Dude, together we designed a custom winter bar roll bag large enough to quickly re-stuff your sleeping bag with quick pull tabs and a speed buckle. Kerry Staite of kLite.com.au with Kerry’s dyno hub lighting system charger, that generates usable light at 3 MPH, batteries aren’t an issue anymore. This is just a small list of contributors to what BarYak.com is and is to come. Thank you, Joe and Tina Stiller.

Shipping Guidelines and PoliciesUSPS Ground shipping is estimated three to five business days after the order is placed, based on location.– We send an email with tracking information after the order is shipped.

– A $20 shipping fee will be charged if the shipping address needs to be changed after the order is placed.– If the ship-to address provided on the order is incorrect, BarYak.com LLC is not liable to change this or for the missing packages.– If the wrong quantities or incorrect items are purchased, the customer will be responsible to use their preferred shipping carrier to ship the products back.– BarYak.com LLC is not responsible for stolen packages after USPS delivery confirmation.– By submitting your order you are agreeing the entered “ship-to” address is safe and secure for delivery without a signature required.– If ‘Signature Required’ was selected during check out, USPS or FedEx Drivers attempt 3 deliveries before the package/s is either held at the nearest USPS or FedEx Facility for pick-up or returned to BarYak.com llc. If the package is returned to BarYak.com LLC, the customer is responsible for re-shipment fees.

*** A note to our International friends. - We have shipped to most countries in the world with little to no problems.We appreciate International business and have made efforts to make shipping there simple and affordable for our customers. Canadian and international customers will be responsible for taxes, duty, and brokerage fees by USPS & FedEx standards. *** All international shipments will be pre-charged $12.00 , shipping on most orders run between $23 - $27 US dollars. After we ship, you’ll be notified of your tracking number and at that time you will be charged the extra international shipping fees minus the $12.00 pre-pay. The accepted method of payment is PayPal Friends and Family , no fees for either of us.

*** Return policyAny returns that are accepted will be subjected to back fees by PayPal and Squarespace, 15% restocking fee and return shipping. If your not sure BarYak is right for you, please contact us , we also have loaners available for that purpose. Thank you so much, Joe Stiller